Field
The present invention generally relates to mobile wallets in mobile devices for use in mobile commerce, and more particularly to systems, methods, and computer program products for managing wallet activation.
Related Art
In a mobile commerce environment, service provider transactions, accounts, products and the like often are stored and processed in a mobile wallet application on a client (e.g., customer) mobile device. A service provider (SP) is a company, organization, entity, or the like, that provides services to customers or consumers. Examples of service providers include account-issuing entities such as banks, merchants, card associations, marketing companies, and transit authorities. A service may be an activity, capability, functionality, work, or use permitted or provided by a service provider, such as a payment service, credit, debit, checking, gift, offer or loyalty service, transit pass service, and the like.
Because many provider transactions, accounts, products and the like are stored and processed in a mobile wallet, there is a need to ensure that the mobile wallet is installed successfully on the mobile device.
Activation of a mobile wallet on a client mobile device may be based on a “push” mechanism. A “push” mechanism transmits activation data to the wallet at a timing determined by the service provider (i.e., the service provider “pushes” data to the mobile device). In contrast, in a “pull” mechanism, the client mobile device requests and receives data at a timing determined by the mobile device or a user thereof (i.e., the mobile device “pulls” data from the service provider).
At the same time, some mobile device operating systems are enabled in a manner which allows multitasking, for example through the use of foreground and background applications. In such cases, the mobile device user may optionally push applications to the background, i.e., to a non-active or less-active state. The terms “non-active”, “less active” and/or “inactive” and the plural versions thereof are used interchangeably herein to refer to an application that is not in a fully active state.
When an application is no longer in an active state, such as when it has been pushed to the background, certain aspects may be interrupted. With particular regard to wallet activation, if the wallet application is pushed to the background during the activation process, there is a significant risk that the process is fatally interrupted and fails entirely. Moreover, when an activation process is relatively long compared to other tasks running on the mobile device, the risk of interruption increases, as the user may not be ready or willing to leave the application in the foreground for long periods of time.